Trinidad, Colorado

Early

Trinidad was first explored by Spanish and Mexican traders, who liked its proximity to the Santa Fe Trail. It was founded in 1862 soon after coal was discovered in the region. This led to an influx of immigrants, eager to capitalize on this important natural resource. By the late 1860s, the town had about 1,200 residents.^[9] Trinidad was officially incorporated in 1876, just a few months before Colorado became a state.^[10] An important milestone for the town occurred in 1878, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway reached Trinidad, making it easier for goods to be shipped from distant locations.^[11] In the 1880s, Trinidad became home to a number of well-known people, including Bat Masterson, who briefly served as the town's marshal in 1882.^[12] By 1900, the population of Trinidad had grown to 7,500. It was now home to two English-language newspapers, and one that was published in Spanish.^[13]

In the early 1900s, Trinidad became nationally known for having the first woman sports editor of a newspaper, Ina Eloise Young.^[14] Her expertise was in baseball, and in 1908, she was the only woman sportswriter to cover the World Series.^[15] During the same time, Trinidad was also home to a popular semiprofessional baseball team that was briefly coached by Damon Runyon.^[16]

This photograph was taken in Trinidad, Colorado on Labor Day, September 2, 1907, prior to the final game of a three-game series between the Denver All Stars baseball team and the Trinidad baseball team.

Ina Eloise Young is thought to be sitting in the center of the front row, above the white dog, with her mother and father seated on her left. This was a good location to keep a box score and report on the game. Although no byline is used, Ina Eloise Young, as sporting editor, certainly wrote the article that appeared in The Chronicle-News on September 3, 1907, about the three-game series.^[17] Damon Runyon is possibly standing on the far left with the other dignitaries in the front-center of the photograph. This event illustrates the popularity of baseball in Colorado at the time and shows Young and Runyon right in the middle of it.

On August 7, 1902, the Bowen Town coal mine, six miles north of Trinidad, experienced a horrific gas explosion, killing 13 miners.^[18] At the time, it was one of the worst mining disasters in the state; conditions in the mine provided the impetus for several labor strikes. At one point in late 1903, an estimated 3,000 miners, members of the United Mine Workers of America, went out on strike.^[19] In, 1904, Trinidad experienced several disasters. In mid-January, a fire destroyed two blocks of the business section of the town, causing more than $75,000 in damages.^[20] Then, in late September, the Trinidad area and the region along the Las Animas River endured an unusually heavy rainstorm, leading to severe flooding; the flood destroyed the Santa Fe railroad station, wiped out every bridge in town, and caused several hundred thousand dollars of property damage.^[21] As Trinidad continued to grow, this was also a time when a number of new construction projects began in the downtown area, including a new library, a new city hall, an opera house, and a new hotel.^[22]

On April 20, 1914, just 18 mi north of town was the site of the Ludlow Massacre.

Recent

Trinidad was dubbed the "Sex Change Capital of the World",^[23] because a local doctor had an international reputation for performing sex reassignment surgery. In the 1960s, Dr. Stanley Biber, a veteran surgeon returning from Korea, decided to move to Trinidad because he had heard that the town needed a surgeon. In 1969, a local social worker asked him if he would perform the surgery for her, which he learned by consulting diagrams and a New York surgeon. Biber attained a reputation as a good surgeon at a time when very few doctors were performing sex-change operations. At his peak, Biber was performing roughly four sex-change operations a day, and the term "taking a trip to Trinidad" became a euphemism for some seeking the procedures he offered. Biber was featured in an episode of South Park, in which elementary school teacher Mr. Garrison undergoes a sex-change operation. Biber's surgical practice was taken over in 2003 by Marci Bowers. Dr. Bowers has since moved the practice to San Mateo, California. The 2008 documentary Trinidad focuses on Marci Bowers and two of her patients.^[24]

Drop City, a counterculture artists' community, was formed in 1965 on land about 4 mi (6.4 km) north of Trinidad. Founded by art students and filmmakers from the University of Kansas and University of Colorado at Boulder, Drop City became known as the first rural "hippie commune",^[25] and received national attention from Life and Time, as well as from reporters around the world.^[26] Drop City was abandoned by the early 1970s, but influenced subsequent alternative-living projects across the country.

In 2017 the town is experiencing a new boom, the city is thriving due to the marijuana industry. CNN asks the question^[27] "Did pot money save small town from 'abyss of nothingness'?". Apparently the answer is a resounding "yes" with the town experiencing a new found $4.4 million in tax revenue from $44 million in annual sales of the recreational drug, representing about 5.13% of the states total sales.^[28] In 2018 High Times called the town "Weed Town, USA" noting the 23 licensed retail marijuana dispensaries servicing less than 10k people works out to one dispensary per 352 people.^[29]

Climate

Trindad experiences a semiarid climate, with hot summers and cold winters. Summers days are hot, but due to Trinidad's high elevation, summer nights are cool, and temperatures drop sharply after sunset. Winters are cold, but milder than in many mountain towns in Colorado. In the winter, daytime highs are usually above freezing, but temperatures below 0 °F or −17.8 °C are possible, especially at night.

Road

• I-25
• US 160

Rail

• Trinidad (Amtrak station)
• Stop # 17 along the Southwest Chief

Air

• Perry Stokes Airport